Summary The Schweizer 269B helicopter, C-FRHO, serial number 44-0055, was air taxiing from the north side of the Victoria Flying Club at Victoria International Airport, British Columbia, to the south ramp of the same property when it experienced a loss of anti-torque control. The helicopter abruptly yawed to the right. From a height of about 10 feet, the pilot lowered the collective rapidly and landed hard. A main-rotor blade cut through the upper surface of the tail boom, and the skid gear broke at all attachment points. The pilot was not injured. Ce rapport est galement disponible en franais. Other Factual Information The helicopter had accumulated about 13hours since the last maintenance inspection. It had recently been ferried from a maintenance facility in Abbotsford to Sidney, British Columbia. At the time of the occurrence, the pilot/owner, who was not endorsed for helicopters, was flying solo and unsupervised. A private helicopter pilot (the ferry pilot) had given the pilot/owner some flying instruction. Inspection of the helicopter anti-torque system revealed that the bumper plug (part number269A5712) was missing from the recently installed tail-rotor (T/R) drive shaft. The bumper plug is mounted internally to the drive shaft end couplings; it restricts the aft movement of the T/R drive shaft and prevents the disengagement of the splined drive of the drive shaft from the T/R transmission input gear. The helicopter had been partially assembled from an assortment of parts originating from three helicopters of similar type in various conditions. This work was performed at the Island Flight Support maintenance facility under the authority of Starwest Aviation (aircraft maintenance organization [AMO] 136-96) in Sidney. However, Starwest Aviation did not hold a helicopter rating on its maintenance approval. An aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) was hired to perform the assembly work. This AME took direction from the Starwest Aviation director of maintenance. The AME was instructed to install the tail boom assembly onto the helicopter,with its T/R drive components already installed. He was unfamiliar with the helicopter type and model and was unaware of the bumper plug. After installing the tail boom, he provided worksheets indicating that he had inspected the T/R drive shaft. AL Helicopter Maintenance (AMO 93-99) in Abbotsford completed the assembly work and signed off on the airworthiness certification. The maintenance logbook records furnished by this AMO were incomplete and lacking details for the extent of the work performed and the components exchanged and installed. There were no airframe log records for the replacement of the tail boom. The work was documented as a 200-hour inspection, and it was supported by worksheets for 25-, 50-, 100- and 200-hour inspections. On 22 December 1999, AL Helicopter Maintenance received Transport Canada AMO certification to perform maintenance on 269/300-series Hughes piston-powered helicopters. During the certification inspection/audit, Transport Canada commented on a lack of control ofmaintenance records and certifications. The Schweizer 269B maintenance manual outlines a detailed procedure for replacing the bumper plug in the forward and aft T/R drive shaft couplings when the bumper plug fails to meet inspection and measurement specifications. The Schweizer illustrated parts catalogue for the 269B and earlier models does not have a reference for the bumper plug. After receiving the 269 type certificate from Hughes Helicopter, Schweizer made the bumper plug a replaceable part in all models; however, Schweizer elected not to update the parts catalogues for earlier models.